i use film

I wasn’t too excited scanning my own negatives, knowing for a fact that my scanner doesn’t exactly yield film photos as good as what its high-end counterparts do. However, there’s also this teeny-tiny bit of a reason why I chose to scan my own films, it would cost me a lot LESS. Yeah, emphasis on the less!

So being the cheapskate that I am, I took all 4 films (2 of which were taken during our weekend family trip) to one of the labs I usually go to (and used to trust too) and had them developed. It cost me a lot less than what I would’ve paid for had I let them develop and scan 3 films.

Once I got home, I scanned a strip of film, one with my mirror selfie on it and it didn’t turn out as I have expected the photos to look like. I expected a lot of grain, NBD, but what I wasn’t expecting were the dullest colors I’ve seen of photos taken with a “fresh”FUJIFILM C200 film! I couldn’t emphasize the word, “fresh” more!

I’ve had numerous, horrible experiences using expired films so I made sure I bought fresh films for our weekend trip, but I should’ve just bought expired films. Now I know how Aia felt when she got a bunch of poorly developed fresh films back from the lab.

I’ve been going to Picture City in Farmers Plaza to get my films developed (even though I purchased a Fuji privilege card already) and I trusted the same guy who has developed my films over a couple of times to get the job done right as usual, but it looks like he and his partner bit off more than they can chew, having too many customers that night.

Now with a cheap scanner to digitize my poorly developed film negatives, I couldn’t be more impatient in editing them all. How I wish I could still do something about these photos. For now, this was all I could do.

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R E A D I N G
on how to grow Zinnias and other flowering plants in the Philippines. I’m glad I found a Filipina blogger who bought the exact brand of seeds and soil mixture I got earlier! I’m really excited about this! 🙂

W R I T I N G
labels on the pots of my new babies 🙂

L I S T E N I N G
to One Direction’s “Cloud” which is included in this “HAPPINESS” playlist!

T H I N K I N G
of what to do with my life! Yes I’m still in that stage. I’ll probably be thinking of the same thing in the next few weeks so I’ll probably won’t include this on my next lists. I’m thinking of finally enrolling in a photography school (the one where my father goes to for seminars) and take up (what else?) Photography and maybe some graphic designing as well. I’m also thinking of a few trips we’re planning in the next few months. I can’t wait!

S M E L L I N G
Nothing.

W I S H I N G
for peace of mind and for more beautiful things to come in the future!

H O P I N Gto get back to planning for the remaining months of this year. I would really need to get back on track and to save, save, save more for some of the things I am currently brewing up in my mind! I’m getting more excited so I need to be more energized in order to put all these plans into action.

W E A R I N G
a pair of leggings and comfy shirt for my workout right after publishing this!!

L O V I N G
the milder weather the past days! Thank God for the rainy afternoons and the much cooler nights! And also BBC1’s and Capital FM’s concept of making artists cover other artists’ songs!

W A N T I N G
to book this trip so I could get my hands on films, cameras and art materials! Please Lord! Make this happen! Please? And also this incredibly refreshing and addicting wheatgrass juice in Antipolo!!!!!

N E E D I N G
more time to exercise, to bake that humongous near-expiry chocolate mix my tita gave us, to catch up on some online courses and to sleep!!!!

F E E L I N G
hopeful and content! 🙂

C L I C K I N G
on this Stuck In Love Soundtrack. Maybe I should watch the movie too!

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Classes will be starting in a few days, well at least for some and traffic will be hell again. I’m going to miss the scorching but lazy days of summer, but I’m never going to say goodbye. I’ll always have an affair with the best season there is.

R E A D I N G
This horror story my sister has been talking about since yesterday. She read it with her officemates during lunch last Friday and she did wake up in the middle of the night and got paranoid because of it. Ooopsie, looks like I’m sleeping beside her tonight and I’m only halfway through the story! Aside from that, I’m reading bit by bit, this little, artsy magazine I bought in Booksale. It’s really my kind of magazine.

W R I T I N G
I wrote something yesterday! It’s the first time I’ve written something in a long time here. I’ve also picked up my kiddie brush pens and failed yet again in brush calligraphy; and I promise, I’m replying to my penpal tonight!

L I S T E N I N G
to Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Hozier and the whole 2014 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in the background while writing this.

T H I N K I N G
Whether I’ll continue reading the story I talked about earlier or not. I’m also thinking of a great milestone I’m celebrating with B next week, our 4th anniversary. I’m also thinking of my brother. I’m thinking of going back to work tomorrow. I think about a lot, I know and I worry about a lot too.

S M E L L I N G
like Tapa, Meatballs and Shrimp all at the same time. 🙂

W I S H I N G
For me to have courage to join this movement I’ve been thinking about since yesterday. Oooops, should’ve included this in “thinking”. I’m also wishing a better life for these two people very dear to me, my brother and lola and for my whole family. 🙂

H O P I N Gstill that the future holds something good for everyone. Always.

W E A R I N G

this earlier. Too bad the dress was too short and I know I wouldn’t ever be comfortable wearing that thing unless I’m at the beach, but knit at the beach in RP? naahhh

L O V I N G
This Victoria’s Secret fashion show, again and again. I especially love the 2006 Jamelia segment. The 2006 Sexyback segment. The Adam Levine x Anne V catwalk. Taylor Swift’s trouble part and I really, really, really love Carly Rae’s streetdancing with Tom Hanks and the Biebs. I also love the new themes I used for my 2 blogs 🙂

W A N T I N G
Any medium format film camera like a TLR or this incredibly cheap Mamiya RB67 I’ve been eyeing since forever, Kodak Ektar and Fujifilm Superia, a new phone and a reliable tablet, my brother to come home, my lola to get better and more succulents!

N E E D I N G
Another beach trip or any vacation away from this place. I seriously need time off.

F E E L I N G
worried and calm at the same time. Also feeling troubled by the fact that I may be running out of time.

C L I C K I N G
on “PLAY” on Rumer and Val’s dance videos on DWTS! They won! 🙂

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I’ve always been drawn to everything handmade or personalized and that strong penchant for such things dates back to my late grade school years to early high school, I think.

We had a couple of home economics and art projects that I admit, up until now, I’d love to do again. There was a project that made us use these gold leaves that I absolutely loved, then there’s the pots that we painted, boxes that we covered with sand and a miniature tallboy that we had to decorate with wood-finish stickers. Every bit of project made my heart skip a beat, though I admit, I’m the type who doesn’t feel the need to make every masterpiece perfect, so I never did. That’s just an excuse to make myself feel better about my not so beautiful creations, but I’m still proud of those. 😛

Fast forward to the present day, that strong passion to make butingting and kalikot, to make things out of scrap or to create something that was inspired by another’s work of art or a happy memory or feeling has definitely become a favorite hobby and a way to release tension and even combat stress. I find it very therapeutic and relaxing and it helps keep the creative juice flowing!

I think that it also helps that when I want something, but can’t afford to buy it, I try as much as I could to create it. I’m a master DIYer (right) and an expert improviser (cool, there is such a word!) and there’s nothing in the world that little research on the internet can’t fix nowadays.

When I had the craziest craving for everything red velvet, I baked cupcakes and crinkles myself. When I wanted food, I find everything that I could put into the pan to cook it. When I saw creative wall art on pinterest or tumblr, I bought the cheapest materials I could find and voila, out came my imperfect but still lovely pieces of art on my so-called Wall of Weird!

Here are some of the things I’ve created so far. Some have been collaborations with my sister and mother (I don’t know how to use a sewing machine beacuse I’m too scared to use one actually).

I think this was the time when I made pancakes from scratch, no pre-made commercial mixes, and it turned out to be very simple and easy to do! I even tossed in some long-time stored choco-chips to make the morning sweeter!

I’ve always loved my tita’s baked macaroni and I also loved how she used to baked them in these leche flan containers. feeling reminiscent of this lovely childhood memory, I made baked macaroni one time and I just added all the cheese we had at home (I think there were 4 types in there) and then topping them with nestle cream! Manang (who’s a bit choosy when it comes to food) actually liked it and I know it because she helped herself to a couple more servings after her first.

We always make our own flowers for All Saints’ Day. This might be my least favorite thing to do, thus the eye-catching arrangement!

I’m so in love with artworks inspired by the outer space. I wanted to make another piece with my zodiac sign on it, but I had only one canvas, so I put these two together. I think I also saw this idea of sticking in christmas/fairy lights into a painting on pinterest, thus the latest masterpiece I have at home.

My sister and I loved kimono cardigans and when she found an easy tutorial online, we used the lovely fabrics we hoarded from divisoria to make a bunch of them.

Here’s the first one we made and on the picture below is another one we made. My sister cut the fabric while Mama sewed them together.

But before we made those kimonos, I cut a small piece from the fabric above to make myself my own camera strap. I couldn’t be more stingy and didn’t want to buy a real camera strap yet, so I made myself one instead. I just had to make it stiffer and stronger by adding a canvas fabric inside.

Thank goodness for light leaks, otherwise, you could have seen how messy the ends of the strap turned out.

another one of my breakfast creations using sexy chix Arabiata (yep this was way before Jasmine Curtis’ tvc came out). I topped it with basil (also fresh from the garden) for a fancy presentation.

I think I just saw the movie, The Fault in our Stars which made me paint the iconic book cover a couple of times! It was also the time when I was doing some general cleaning in my room that I found my father’s lost watercolors. I knew I couldn’t hold back my excitement then so I just haphazardly finished cleaning just to stare at them.

I also painted the TFIOS book cover on a small canvas that has now been put up on my Wall of Weird ever since.

One of the latest projects I did was my own dreamcatcher. As usual, it looked weird because I added a small burlap ring in the middle of it to make it a bit different than the normal one. I bought the ring and feathers from this seamstress haven in farmers mall and the burlap and jute strings in my favorite place in the world, divisoria. 🙂

So what does it mean to be creative? Are those with talent the only ones whom we can truly call creative? Where and how does creativity emerge?

For me, creativity is part of human nature. Our earliest ancestors have been creating shelter, clothing and food (preparing food) from basic materials ever since they first walked the earth. Up until now, centuries after, people are still creating something new, mostly to make life easier, some for pleasure and others for artistic expression.

To create also means to undergo a process wherein certain factors such as passion and inspiration are both needed. So talent may be optional, as far I can see. Sadly though, people may find it confusing to differentiate between inspiration and copying when they create. I read an entry about this yesterday on GooglyGooeys and I was a bit scared that my so-called creativity is just a product of “copying off someone else’s work” especially those whom I idolize a lot. Good thing, after some thorough self-analysis and self-denial (LOL), it turns out that I may not be a copycat after all since I do have my own style, my own, weird ideas and concepts that pop up in mind upon seeing and appreciating other people’s work.

Lastly, as Ponggo pointed out, “Creativity is doing something everyone else is doing but in a new way” (Alex Alata). 🙂

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My mama has been an awardee in their company numerous times for being hardworking. I think? Recently, she asked me to take photos of her for the avp/ceremony and we slept at 2 in the morning because I had to do her hair and make up aside from taking her photos.

On the night of the awarding ceremony, she asked me to drop by after work because she needed someone to tie the knots of her gown mainly. She could’ve asked my papa to do it but she asked me instead. Unfortunately I got there late and I saw her already fully made up, so I insisted to fix her eyebrows instead (my favorite thing to do in the world). Then we took some selfies before finally dropping her off to the event. When I was about to take her photo, she asked me to join her, which was a surprise.

This is a bit timely that I got to take these rare photos of my mother because it’s Mother’s Day! 🙂

Mothers are the Best! Make your moms feel special 🙂

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Nothing much to say about myself that I haven't already said in the ABOUT ME section. Currently in my late 20's, a Scorpio ♐ and my life staples are God, my family, friends, photography, mountaineering, love, laughter, hope, prayer and art.
You're welcome to read the rest of my misadventures on my personal blog and to see the world through my eyes in my photo blog. Links are posted below an odd GIF of me! :) Thanks for dropping by! Have a good one!